Microbial Biogeochemistry

The Research Group Microbial Biogeochemistry (MicGeo) aims for an understanding of the impact of the microbiota for climate, soil carbon storage, and the yield of crops. Thereby, it contributes to the UN sustainable development goals ‚Zero Hunger‘, ‚Life on Land‘, and ‚Climate Action‘. The group investigates plant-associated and soil microbiota in agricultural and further terrestrial ecosystems. The focus lies on the elucidation of the role of microbiota on the exchange of climate-relevant trace gases and VOCs as well as the turnover and storage of carbon in soil. Considerd are methylotrophs and nitrate reducers as physiological models. The group uses cultivation (incl. anaerobes), gene marker analysis, genomics, metagenomics, stabile isotope probing (DNA/RNA), RNA-based analyses and relevant bioinformatics. Moreover, it uses soil enzyme and gas analytics (GC ISQ MS, GC FID/ECD) to characterize microbial processes. Beyond pot experiments, manipulation experiments on agri-ecosystem-scale to resolve controling factors, interactions and dynamics of the crop microbiota complex, are conducted.